Friday, October 29, 2010

Time for a sampling of spooky silliness from the 1963 issue of Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist #1. This was a fun "Monster Family" series that deserved more than the all too brief four-issue run it received (see also their comic debut in Hanna-Barbera Band Wagon #3) before eventually being cancelled. And despite what many people think, The J. Evils actually did make a few animated appearences on 60's television in two very memorable episodes of Snagglepuss and Snooper & Blabber.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

As a kid in the 70's, one thing I could always rely upon was a cool halloween card in the mail from my grandparents (and usually including some money or a stick of Wrigleys tucked inside too!) Here's a memorable selection of some of my favorites-- I even scanned the inside of the cards for you too.

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(This last card came with a mirror glued to the inside... to "paste on your neck!")

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Presenting a few photos of Maila Nurmi from my vast collection of Vampira imagery. These are not particularly the most "rare" photos of her in my possession, but what makes them so special of course is that she autographed them for me during our brief friendship back in the early 2000's while I was living in LA.

BELOW: comparison of how Maila enjoyed manipulating her own photos. This shot for example is from one of her more famous beach series'. "I never liked the way my thighs looked in this picture," she told me on a couple occasions, and taking a Sharpie in hand, she simply painted some strands of ragged fabric right over my photo (she also painted her lips red in the other.)

Friday, October 22, 2010

Today, 17 blogs will unite for a Web-wide event celebrating a new book by Eisner-award winner Craig Yoe, DICK BRIEFER’S FRANKENSTEIN and the character by that name. Prominent bloggers across the Web will be posting vintage Frankenstein comics, both from Yoe's book, which collects Briefer's top comics, and from the bloggers' personal collections. (More info at the end of this post.)

Read the FrankensteinPART ONEOrigin at The ITCH Blog, and then PART TWO at The Horrors of it All-- then it's time for PART THREE in Dick Briefer's FrankensteinSaga from Craig's new book right here at AEET! (Originally presented in the February 1941 issue of Prize Comics #9)

And of course there's lots more fearsome and funny Frankenstein action courtesy of these fine blogs too:

DICK BRIEFER’S FRANKENSTEIN: The first volume in Yoe Book's thrilling new series, "The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics," fittingly features the first and foremost maniacal monster of all time... Frankenstein! Dick Briefer is one of the seminal artists who worked with Will Eisner on some of the very first comic books. Briefer created a bizarre, twisted version of the classic Frankenstein that is legend among comic book aficionados. If you like the comic book weirdness of cartoonists Fletcher Hanks, Basil Wolverton, and Boody Rogers, you're sure to thrill over Dick Briefer's creation of Frankenstein. The large format book lovingly reproduces a monstrous number of stories from the original 1940s and '50s comic books. Briefer did both a dark horror take and a more humorous-yet twisted-styling of Frankenstein, and both are powerfully showcased here. The stories are fascinatingly supplemented by an insightful introduction with rare photos of the artist, original art, letters from Dick Briefer, drawings by Alex Toth inspired by Briefer's Frankenstein-and much more!

($21.99, 144 pages, hardcover) is now available in stores and online HERE!

About Me

Editor / co-editor of IDW's Chilling Archives of Horror Comic Books: ZOMBIES, RETURN OF THE ZOMBIES, and DEVIL TALES, as well as co-host of the bi-monthly HAUNTED HORROR comic series and HAUNTED LOVE miniseries. (All image scans and photography by me from items found in my own personal collection-- except where noted.)